Herb Garden

My Thanksgiving starts with the smell of maple syrup mingled with fresh coffee. Friends gather in the kitchen, bringing ingredients over.  The day is filled with wine, conversations, and a freshly brined turkey in the oven.

A few years ago I asked my boss Jesse Griffiths, the chef/owner of Dai Due supper club, what he was cooking for Thanksgiving. He said he was brining his turkey Wednesday night. Now, it turns out I used this process of soaking my pork chops in salt water before, but I didn’t know the term “brine.”

Jesse had a twist on the classic method of using just plain salt.  He explained that soaking your turkey in salt water with a few simple herbs will improve the moisture content and flavor. To get the most flavor, dissolve kosher salt in boiling water with several garlic cloves, pepper corns, bay leaves and any additional herbs that you like. Cool the water and put your turkey in a cooler with ice. Then poor the brine over the turkey and soak overnight. You’ll want to soak it for at least 12 hours, Jesse told me.

From his backyard garden, he picked a dozen bay leaves from his bay laurel bush. When I got home I sourced the rest of the herbs from my herb garden, including, rosemary, marjoram, thyme, and oregano.  I use these herbs to make flavorful stuffing every year, and I knew they’d be a good addition to my brine.

Since that Thanksgiving I’ve learned how to use brines when soaking my beans and vegetables too.  The other day I soaked my broccoli in a brine using, lemon juice, thyme, and salt.  I recently read an article about citrus brined olives in Bon Appetit.  As people take more of an interest in where food comes from old fashioned food preparations are resurfacing everywhere.

A friend told me that she’s learned to add salt at every level of the cooking stage. That way the salt will be soaked into your ingredients and not just a flavor on top of your food. Now why didn’t I think of that years ago?